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What today’s message about Stadia means for players

StadiaTeam
Stadia Employee
Stadia Employee
166 424 36.9K

Stadia players, you may already have seen the message shared on Google’s main blog just now. This is a short recap of the most important information for players from the main post:    

 

  • You will continue to have access to your games library through January 18, 2023 so you can complete final play sessions and move your progress to alternate platforms where possible.

  • Commerce functionality (the ability to buy games, new subscriptions, add-ons or in-game purchases) on Stadia has now been disabled.

  • Google will offer a full refund of all Stadia hardware purchases (Stadia Controller, Stadia Founder’s Edition, Stadia Premiere Edition, or Play and Watch with Google TV Package) made in the Google Store and all purchases of games and in-game transactions made in the Stadia Store. 

  • The refund process will take us some time to complete, and we expect to have the majority of refunds completed by the middle of January 2023. Please allow us until this time before contacting our support team regarding the status of your refund(s).

  • Stadia Pro subscription payments will not be eligible for refund, but if you are an active subscriber, you will continue to have access to your library without charge during the shut-down period.

 

As we begin the work of processing refunds to customers, Stadia customer service agents will not be able to provide more information to you at this time. For information and updates, please review the information on our Help Center, which will include new information as it becomes available. We’ll also contact players directly via email shortly with more information.

 

We want to thank you for taking this journey with us: in particular, the Founders and fans who have been with us from the beginning. The Stadia team poured the same passion for games into our work building and supporting Stadia as you have shown us each day in your play. 

 

Posted by Stadia Team

424 Comments
View92612
Stadia Player
Stadia Player

@GLYTCH4324  If you want to stream directly onto TV there is only one alternative which is Amazon Luna with a Fire TV stick.  I tried it with Amazon TV stick 4K and it works quite well.  There are 3 month trials for Lenovo Chromebook owners  https://www.google.com/chromebook/perks/ and 2 month trials for Lenovo Gaming Club members(free to  join).  However a word of caution,  I believe Amazon Luna is also burning money so it has the same risk of being cancelled at some point in the future.  It also has a more limited selection of games just like Stadia. If you don't mind the risk you may try it out. It has all the Ubisoft titles too and the newer ones (Valhalla, Fenyx) should allow you to port your progress from Stadia to Luna easily.  You though may not use the Stadia controller unless Google enables Bluetooth... Xbox One controller works great on Luna, just as on Stadia and XGP.

PredTom01
Stadia Player
Stadia Player

Crowd-Funding to keep it going? :winking_face:

Thank you and best wishes

 

TrialsOfTheN9ne
Stadia Player
Stadia Player

This is why people hate google for products. This almost talked me into iPhones. Windows it is. Truly Google earns the hate. I am excited for the new homebrew hacks to come to keep up the service via new groups else where. CCU will be the next WII level hack. So mad this is theor solution making our time and investment unusable. Google may as well say hears some money screw you for thinking google gave a craps about gamers. I feel used for supporting them. No thanks from me. The others here can kiss googles butt for all those truly effected by this. 

Hollymood
Founder
Founder

I will never give Google a chance on any new service/product. You are only good as a search engine. Focus on that because any other idea is doomed. The competition will win even doing worst simply because they commit to their projects and do so much better with marketing. One more thing, don't you dare to try to compete against Amazon, Microsoft, and Apple, because it's going to be another brutal failure.

HyperChopper
Founder
Founder

As a founder fanboy, this is a sad time. My heart goes out to the Stadia team who had such short notice. I loved the convenience, and had a solid connection, so I never really had issues. Thank you for the time we had. Google as a whole will not even feel it, but personally, I'll be slow to trust and and adopt Google again. My phone, even my tv was a result of my being an excited fanboy. That doesn't take way from the fact that the Stadia team had some awesome talent.

Thank you Stadia Team

Isbey
Stadia Player
Stadia Player

This sucks so much. I don’t know how I’ll play video games anymore. Feels like going back in time to buy a console.

Nvidia GeForce Now: there’s not really any support for living room play other than getting a Nvidia Shield and at that point, you might as well buy a console.

Xbox Cloud Gaming: can’t play in the living room without hooking up a pc to your tv or getting an xbox

Playstation Plus: same as above

Amazom Luna: unfortunately, probably the best option. Have to switch all your chromecasts to fire sticks and good luck getting all the other google services you use to run on them. Plus their subscription model and lack of content really sucks. They’re also the most likely to follow suit with stadia.

I guess i can just play mobile games from now on. What else is there?

drusepth
Founder
Founder

With no notice on the shutdown, it would be nice to have a little lee-way on who can keep access to their Pro games. For example, my subscription expired 2 days before the shutdown announcement (so I could reset my billing to a few days later on the 1st) and now I won't have access to any of my Pro games ever again, even though I've been subscribed for a long time -- because I took just a couple days to reset my billing day. Oof.

UncleTayTay
Stadia Player
Stadia Player

Love you stadia my heart is absolutely crushed and I thank you all team members 🫶🏻

herfen
Founder
Founder

Lost  all Trust in this Brand  @Google @StadiaTeam 

Fuaga23
Stadia Player
Stadia Player

Stadia was the final reason to buy Chromebooks, will we get a refund for them too? @StadiaTeam 

herfen
Founder
Founder

20221003_102133.jpg

@Fuaga23 I got proof

Nicky
Founder
Founder

I am dejected. My ideal game service, no clutter, click and play, cheap...  A few weeks ago I had also brought in my daughter. 

Really a bad news

cubano100pct
Community Member

Enable Bluetooth with a firmware update to allows to use the controller and pair it with other devices. I have two controllers and would like to pair it with my Steam Deck, iPad and Nintendo Switch.

darkseid1000
Stadia Player
Stadia Player

I'm gutted that stadia is being closed!!

I got rid of all my hardware consoles and PC's, upgraded my Internet connection to 300mbps in the hope that I will have gaming heaven, without the need for software or painful hardware updates like graphic cards or motherboards, starting games in a few seconds whenever I need in any device around the home.

Why can't the traditional platforms do this? Set us free from the prison if your hardware so we can breathe!

What did stadia do wrong? Will we always be tied to hardware? Is the future not streaming?

Falcon
Stadia Player
Stadia Player

Please unlock Bluetooth on the stadia controller.

WatchingLeader
Stadia Player
Stadia Player

@darkseid1000 

They dont know what marketing is and they had not the AAA games needed. The Assassins Creed series came to late. Yakuza, Final Fantasy series, Kingdom Hearts ect was absent.

But you are the one who do something wrong, like all of us. You trusted Google. They are famous to kill projects. They have the biggest graveyard out there.

At least they will refund our money back, but to be honest until i receive i cannot believe them. I dont trust them, they told us 2 months ago they dont close Stadia, we should not worry and know the opposite. Not even the employees were aware.

Dont even have hopes they enable bluetooth for the stadia controller.

WatchingLeader
Stadia Player
Stadia Player

Maybe it is time to chance to a new Manager. Mr. Harrison was a Manager for PS3, for Xbox too. After another Phil take over, Mr. Spencer since then Xbox sees light in the end of the tunnell.

They dont kill Xbox, but gave a new life.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_Harrison

Hey Google leave this s...ty strategy you have and do something to keep Stadia alive. 

Have Mr. Harrison save Stadia, if he is not able he needs a chance, then bring someone else.

Answer us this week, we know now you are capabkf of taking decisions in the last moment.

Zeem2313
Stadia Player
Stadia Player

You guys were the best thing that happened to me in a long time affordable gaming I hope you guys can work something out I'm gonna miss my games that I purchased at least can we play them I'm happy for the experience

 

Krampus
Founder
Founder

Sadness doesn't even begin to express what you and I both feel about this decision... I hold out hope that someone will change their mind and am glad that I enjoyed it for as many hours as I did... will likely join those who have super busy lives that doesn't allow for traditional gaming (loads/updates/etc). Until next time. 

rocketWagon
Founder
Founder

I am deeply saddened by the loss of Stadia.  I really enjoyed the last few years using Stadia.  I do not like losing all my games on Stadia.  I will miss using the progress I have made on Stadia games.  Stadia has always worked very well for me.  I think Stadia is a great idea.  I like the fact that I do not need an expensive graphics card to play a computer game.  I like the idea that with Stadia I would not need to buy a new console every few years.  I like the ability to move from one device to another and continue the same game.  I like playing on a chromecast, which is much smaller than a gaming computer.  I like the way the Stadia subscription gave me new games every month.  I like the way Stadia lets me take screenshots easily and review them later.  I like having a headphone plug on the controller.  In many ways, I like the way Stadia works.

I hope someone finds a way to use the Stadia controller with another system.  It's very nice to be able to connect over wifi.  Maybe the controller can be updated to work with another service.  Maybe the people who like stadia can create our own version that will run on another server.  If Google has given up on this, maybe we can make an open source version.  The controller works well for many games.  We should find a way to keep it working with our games as a wifi controller.

There are a few things Stadia should have done better.  When Stadia was first announced, the announcement said it will have the ability to stream directly to youtube.  That feature did not become available until much later.  Many people said Stadia did not have enough of the games people wanted to play available on the store.  For a long time, there was no search bar in the Stadia store.  There was no easy way to find a game to buy without a search bar.  I needed to search for the name of a game on google and hope that someone had posted a link to the Stadia store page for that game.  Stadia now has a search bar, many more games, and streaming to youtube.  It's good to see that Stadia has fixed the original problems, but maybe those problems were fixed too late.  Some people talked about Stadia when it was first announced, but most people have forgotten it by now.  Most reactions to Stadia I have seen on youtube were negative.  I did not have a negative reaction, but they did have some valid points.  I think if Stadia had given a better first impression, it may have been able to survive for much longer.

One of the biggest problems for Stadia was the requirement for a fast connection.  I know that not everyone has a connection as fast as I do.  I have Verizon Fios which has never had a problem with internet speed.  I have tried to get my friends to play Stadia games online with me.  One of the most common answers I get is that they do not trust their internet to be stable enough or fast enough to work with Stadia.  I have a fast connection, and I am still amazed that Stadia can work so well.  There are many people who could have used Stadia, but did not try it because they did not believe it would work, or they thought there would be an input delay for the buttons.  There were a few times I had some input delay, but that was always fixed by restarting the system.  There are many more people getting better internet speeds than there were a few years ago.  If Stadia had stayed longer, more people would be able to use it because they have better internet speeds now than there was a few years ago.

If Stadia was really an unpopular idea, why would Amazon develop Luna, which works the same way as Stadia?  Luna is not shutting down, but instead it still sometimes gets promoted on the amazon.com front page.  Maybe google could have sold Stadia to amazon, so we could continue playing our games on Amazon servers.  Stadia could have merged with Luna instead of shutting down.  The luna controller looks almost the same as the Stadia controller, so the games can use the same controls.  People who want cloud gaming will now buy their games on luna instead of Stadia.  If Amazon luna becomes widely used and popular, will google start up Stadia again to compete?  There should be some competition for a cloud gaming system.  I think the Stadia shutdown may be seen as a mistake in the future if other companies will be able to do cloud gaming more successfully.

Maybe Stadia was too far ahead of its time.  Many people really were not ready for something like this yet.  I think sometime in the future there will be more interest in this kind of game service.  Virtual machines on a server are a good idea.  It is a good idea to have a powerful computer at home, and then access that computer remotely with a less powerful chromebook, laptop, or phone.  I have been using Chrome Remote Desktop for many years to access my home computer to write code and design apps.  Chrome Remote Desktop works in a similar way to Stadia.  There have been many similar systems called "thin clients" that have existed.  The benefit is you can use a less expensive, smaller, more mobile, user system for hardware.  Another benefit is you only need to do updates once at the server.  After working with many different VNC (virtual network computer) systems, I have seen many benefits in using this kind of system.  When I first heard of Stadia, I fully understood the idea and I liked the idea.  I think many people have some trouble understanding how Stadia works.  Maybe when cloud services become more common, more people will understand and be more receptive to the idea.

The Stadia shutdown is one more in a long list of Google products that have ended.  There are many Google products and websites that have come and gone.  Each time something is shut down there are users that are unhappy about the shutdown.  Since Google has so many services that were shut down, some people may not want to use new google services out of fear that the service will not last long.  If Google wants people to trust them with our data, they need to be reliable.  I do not like seeing stadia shut down, but the refund will make the situation a little better.  I had expected stadia to last much longer.

Maybe someday google will decide to start up Stadia again when more people have fast internet and when there is more competition for cloud gaming.  Stadia could have been more successful if some problems were managed better and solved faster.  It was great to have Stadia while it lasted.  Thanks for creating Stadia.

Satufake
Stadia Player
Stadia Player

I dont complain about the newest games and etc. I've got what I wanted from this platform if we are speaking about games. But I have to share the following and I know I'm not alone with it. It's a fact, that this technology is the future of gaming, and loads of people couldn't afford gaming without this platform or many of us just simply thought, beside working and etc. we dont want to invest into a new gamer PC or console and so on.  (Like myself for example) So yeah, of course I thank you too this 3 years, but I am very sad. If you will be able to rethink this decision in the future, please do, because I honestly think you're doing a mistake now.

MechWarriorZero
Stadia Player
Stadia Player

I love Stadia, worst month to tell us that yaw are ending stadia is on my birthday month, don't let it end this way, please let us keep the servers running on our own or let us run our own stadia cloud server our self's, I had a felling that this would happened, same thing happened to Onlive they got bought out by Sony 

Riott
Stadia Player
Stadia Player

Saying goodbye to Stadia is like losing a best friend or family member.   I guess All Good Things does come to an end...

ghaadeer
Stadia Player
Stadia Player

How is it possible that a company earning 80% of its revenue with advertisment is not able to do proper marketing ?

I'm really sad and annoyed - the experience of stadia was excellent and I did all I can do to convince friends and family to join  - which they did (will never do that again).

A big thanks to the stadia team - I really enjoyed the gaming experience.

The way they did shut down the service let me think of a deal behind the scenes presumably either with Microsoft and/or with Sony.

ghaadeer
Stadia Player
Stadia Player

My best case scenario is, that google got hacked and the message from the stadia shutdown was posted by trolls/hackers!

(Worst case scenario seems to have happened right now)

MisterMarcoo
Founder
Founder

Nice to see I will get so much money back that will flow instantly to the big US competitor Microsoft, cause no way in hell I will ever ever ever ever EVER put any of my money in a Google product. I am a Google One user, mainly for Photos, but I am 100% looking into how to change this to MS as well. In fact, I'm done with Google. I just wished there was an alternative to Android that wasn't so expensive as Apple. What a **bleep** company Google is, excuse my French. They didn't tell publishers, developers or employees upfront. That same **bleep**ing day they even launched a freaking game! How complete moronic are you then. 

And all because the biggest data-grabbing, advertising platform in the world doesn't know how to advertise. Come on, you launched in like 14 countries. Even I could have handled Google Ads/Youtube Ads campaign for that! This whole situation makes it even more clear: Don't be evil has been removed for a reason at Google.

In terms of Stadia: man I'm gonna miss it! It was my main platform and it was nice to play the games I played on any screen I wanted. I was so skeptical at playing games on my mobile, but it works flawlessy. Stadia made me think about the importance for AAA title and I realised I never really played them anyway, so that's a win. I had many many many hours of fun playing whatever I wanted, I only really missed Star Wars Squadrons and the new Mass Effect remaster. 

So had a blast! Stadia, gonna miss you. Google, fok off

Torhall
Stadia Player
Stadia Player

I will miss Stadia :(. Hope it gets revived someday :upside_down_face: The other Cloud Gaming services is not as good. 

BlackWolf198
Stadia Player
Stadia Player

WHYYYYY STADIA WHYYYYYY

MagoSergio
Stadia Player
Stadia Player

Estoy muy triste por el cierre de Stadia, no creo que vuelva a confiar en Google nunca más.

Lo proximo sera pasarme a Xbox y adquirir un teléfono de Apple. Trataré de eliminar todo lo que tenga de Google.

Espero que el proceso de reembolso sea rápido.

Lo siento por los trabajadores de Stadia ya que pienso que ellos no tienen la culpa, es cosa de los directivos de Google.

Adiós Google.

Riccardo_89
Stadia Player
Stadia Player

I know, I am a dreamer. But what I am hoping for is a second future Google announce in which they will state that they are closing Stadia because it was only the beta version and now they will open the real cloud platform with a real support, real investments and a lot of Triple A, also in exclusive. I am a dreamer, but I cannot believe that Google is closing a so useful service that could truly penetrate and change the market. Google opened this service and they gave practically 0 support from day 1 and now they are closing it? You are doing it because this was the beta right?

If this is only a dream, Google, you only looked in your short term costs, and you will fail in the long term, shame on you. Amazon will do it with Luna in what you failed. I will go with Amazon when they will arrive in EU. 

ItsAlbertXyZ
Stadia Player
Stadia Player

Thank you. All my best Stadia.:red_heart:

UptightBody
Stadia Player
Stadia Player

Google, you REALLY dropped the ball. Again. You’re shutting down a major money making opportunity and investment into the future of your company, saying no to this incredibly valuable opportunity to get more than just your foot in the door in a booming industry. You had such an amazing thing going, and you were on track to be number one in video game streaming it you played your cards right. You were far ahead of other companies in the streaming war. Why didn’t you advertise your product? Alex Hutchinson, you’re an idiot. Phil Harrison, you’re a terrible person. None of this would have happened if the whole Google corporate culture wasn’t so twisted with the way they promote people based on launching a new product or service. Wheres the incentive to improve, build upon and upgrade existing digital infrastructure? I don’t think there’s one single person I can point my finger at for all of these toxic habits at Google. It’s bad business and you guys need to get your **bleep** together. Fix it before it’s too late.

vinniev
Stadia Player
Stadia Player

Will we have to go through the store to refund our games or will you do it automatically and will it be sent to our google accounts if we payed with Google play 

Aberfoyle
Community Member

@StadiaTeam Hey, I know there is still lots of stuff up in the air, but what about letting former pro users re-up? I stopped paying a few months ago because I had some things going on, but I'd be willing to pay the next three months to still play all those pro titles before it sunsets. Especially if some of the games don't end up landing somewhere else. 

Toticci
Founder
Founder

Stadians,

I got really sad when I heard that Stadia will close down... This has been great for quick and casual games.. And I will miss that a lot.

So far I had no issues with the streaming service...so I'm very sad that this saga will come to end :confused_face:

 

Edgydice
Stadia Player
Stadia Player

This is not ok, please give me back my stadia pro as I cycle my subscription and just happen to not be active as of your cut off date. Very disappointed in how this has been handled.

AC_Valhalla
Stadia Player
Stadia Player

So I guess this means that those of us subscribed to Ubisoft+ Founders edition are going to get screwed over by losing our grandfathered pricing! This hurt quite a few people financially. Shame on you Google. You could have worked with partners to assist them with transition, instead of screwing them over.... Ever since Google dropped "Don't be Evil", it is exactly what they are!

NOLTEMANN
Stadia Player
Stadia Player

Not really, I found out that Ubisoft is trying to move their players to their platform. Will be optional of course

NOLTEMANN
Stadia Player
Stadia Player

If stadia unlock the Bluetooth feature, you will be good in that case ( I think)

Squeak_Easy
Founder
Founder

I guess i'll be buying a Steam Deck and investing the rest in Steam.

What a huge shame.

Some folks on here saw Stadia as their return to gaming... and now that's gone.

Ler
Stadia Player
Stadia Player

To continue to play PUBG with my girlfriend we have to buy two xbox series s (a total of ca 600$ USD), compared to paying 0$ with Stadia. So this is pretty bad news for us.

mrarel
Community Member

Time goes by.....and I will miss this great piece of software/streaming Stadia did offer 

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 ...but the most terrible message was that goolge did fire or at least disappoint their developers for stadia by sudden...dear google...thats not even fair !

 

IwyeiwyOwyw9
Community Member

Ueoejeoe

 

Putin
Stadia Player
Stadia Player

At list give us all adon Orks Must Die 3

Dobbo1729
Stadia Player
Stadia Player

300+ hours on farming simulator 22. At least my refund will cover purchase of new hardware. I was all in on stadia shame google completely mismanaged it. Was reading an article on ign and it seems the suits always overruled the gaming side of the company. I mean why would you listen to the industry specialists you hired to help you gain a market percentage.

Do0dl3r
Founder
Founder

It's sad to see this ending, but I've had so much fun thanks to this platform, especially with my kids. I sincerely hope your tech gets adopted by someone, as it's incredibly effective. I'll be making the most of it right up until the end. 

 

So long, and thanks for all the fish

onid03
Stadia Player
Stadia Player

Wait a minute stadia shutting down for good? And if they are what is the reason for them shutting down their system for? Please somebody let me know why I need to know the answer to this cuz I'm f****** pissed about it.

onid03
Stadia Player
Stadia Player

I don't like this s***. Don't do it.

TaK
Founder
Founder

:pensive_face: 

onid03
Stadia Player
Stadia Player

It's sad to see you guys go. **bleep** now I have to go and buy a **bleep**ing system.Hey that's life for you.Good bye stadia and marry Christmas and have a happy new year. maybe you guys will come back in the future.